my age of magic

Chapter 4 4. Catching Guinea Pigs

In the early spring of September, at the junction of the easternmost end of the New Siakis Mountains and the northwest of the Pai Plateau, there is a green grassland, and the rolling New Siakis Mountains end there.

A large number of melted water from the glaciers in the snow-capped mountains of the New Siaqisi Mountains converge here through several tributaries, and converge into dozens of lakes, large and small, on this not-so-large grassland.

Before summer comes, there will be millions of one-horned bison that migrate north to the glacial tundra to thrive, and will trample this place into a barren land.

Only during the early spring before that, the caravans would choose to take this trade route.And now it is also a paradise for all kinds of small animals.

I lay quietly in the grass, motionless, even breathing very lightly.

Beside me is a large cloth bag supported by a hole the size of a fist. The mouth of the cloth bag is slightly camouflaged with green grass. Don't even think about crawling out.

Kurz was in charge of filling up the rest of the hole with a shovel, a job that only experienced hunters could do, and it would be impossible to catch a guinea pig without blocking a hole.

Filling up the large and small rat holes nearby, Kurz lit the prepared cow dung at the entrance of a purposely left rat hole, the flames burned more and more vigorously, and it seemed that the time was about the same, Kurz poured a pile of white slag into the fire In the pile, a large amount of black smoke billowed instantly, and wolf dung mixed with pungent and spicy herbs burned.

The wolf dung had been fully burned, and Kuzti covered the fire and the rat hole with a sackcloth blanket soaked in water.He smiled at me and shouted softly: "Jijia, hold your pockets and don't let them crooked!"

"Okay!" I also answered excitedly in a low voice. Although the soul in my body is no longer young, when my young body is lying on the green grass, I will still become very excited and even a little nervous, worrying about those who are so young. A guinea pig as big as a hare swooped out, and I would not be able to hold the bag.

Thick smoke was poured into the mouse hole, and there were traces of thick smoke rising from all over the grassland.

Before he had time to think about it, he heard a "whoosh", and the grass at the entrance of the mouse's hole was suddenly overwhelmed by a small khaki beast. The yellow shadow didn't even have time to change direction, and got into the cloth bag.

Immediately afterwards, two more sprang out in a row.

I tightly held the mouth of the bag with both hands, not daring to be distracted at all.

A guinea pig the size of a rabbit was sprinting left and right in the bag. Fortunately, Kurz was worried that there would be trouble on my side, so he had already fixed the bag firmly on the ground with a wooden wedge.I took a wooden stick and beat the dishonest guinea pigs who were still trying to find the exit, and beat them to be honest.

Squatting next to the bag trap, I thought that I was only seven years old. This age used to be the happy time when I was crying and pulling my mother's clothes, and refused to go to school, but now I have to eat for a bite You have to think hard, endure the burning pain in your body, work hard and use the most serious life attitude to integrate into this team and understand this mysterious magical world.

I think I am still afraid of death after all, so I have been working hard to live carefully. During this period, I met some good people, Mr. Kuru, Kurz, Fred, butler Leipas, and other people in the caravan. They are all very friendly.

Old Kuru not only saved me, but also told me the way to go in the future. His words filled me with hope and courage.Whether such a life is lucky or unfortunate for me, it is difficult for me to say for a while.

The sound of Kurtz shouting came from a distance, pulling me back from my thoughts.

"Jijia, a guinea pig has escaped!"

I quickly threw away the wooden stick in my hand and straightened the crooked cloth bag.

At this time, a dozen or so guinea pigs had already run into the bag, and a few fish that slipped through the net came out of the gap on the other side of the cloth bag, and Sa Huan'er sprinted across the grass.They are three or four meters away in one leap, and disappear into the vast grassland after just a few ups and downs.

It appears that the rat hole that Kurtz found belongs to a large family of guinea pigs.

There are still a steady stream of guinea pigs coming out of the cave along the choking smoke. Some of the guinea pigs behind seem to be drunk. The hind legs kicked back twice weakly, and the body began to twitch. These guinea pigs were choked to death, maybe there are still in the cave, I guess it is impossible for them to crawl out alive.

Kurtz ran over with an iron chisel and bent the iron chisel.Use an iron chisel to reach into the hole and hook out the guinea pig that choked to death in the hole.

His furry face was smoked like black charcoal, only a pair of eyes were bright, and when he smiled triumphantly, he revealed two sharp canine teeth unique to wolf orcs.

We had a great hunt with 27 guinea pigs, each the size of a hare.

We tied the cloth bag to a long wooden stick, and the two of us carried it to the campsite one after the other.On the way back, Kurz and I discussed inviting people in the camp to eat stew, and Kurz agreed without thinking about it.

I originally planned to fry guinea pigs, but I didn't expect to catch so many guinea pigs at once, and the oil I originally prepared would not be enough.

I had to temporarily change the menu, and it was easier to cook in one pot.Now the season of early spring is no better than winter, and uneatable meat can be frozen.

The fresh meat in this season only needs to be stored for three or two days, otherwise it will go bad, so it is better to invite everyone to eat together.

From a distance, the old Kuru could be seen squatting on the soil slope next to the camp, his wrinkled face would have an indescribable smell, he just sat there quietly with a rough stick in his mouth Tobacco rolls made from dry tobacco leaves.

It’s just that this trip is very long, and the stock of the old Kuru is not much. It is said that this kind of tobacco leaf with a slightly sour taste like sea buckthorn can only grow on the Pai Plateau. It must be coming to the door, those who have been reluctant to smoke tobacco leaves There is no need to save anything.

Seeing that we came back safely, Kuru walked down the mound slowly, and said in surprise when he saw the prey in the cloth bag: "I caught so many, good luck, you two boys!"

"Grandpa, Jijia and I want to treat everyone in the caravan to a good dinner. We want to invite them to try Jijia's specialty dishes. Do you think it's okay?" Kuz thought to the old Kuru. As well-behaved as quail, he asked cautiously.

The rules of the orc tribe are different from those of the human race. Although Kurz has lived in this caravan for 3 years, he still has the vigilance of the tribe orcs towards humans in his bones. It is something that has left a brand in his bones , will not change easily.

Old Kuru looked at me in surprise, with some relief in his eyes.

The old Kuru has been hiding and trying hard to let Kurz integrate into human society. I know that the old Kuru has always wanted the young Kurz to travel to the most central human city in the mainland, but if Kuru always has the mentality of rejection , then this time will be extended indefinitely.

Every orc who wants to be the leader of the tribe needs to be forward-looking, but what this thing needs is experience and experience.

However, the old Kuru still hesitated, and after a moment of silence, he looked up and asked Kurz: "Since you want to invite everyone in the caravan to eat stew, then do you know how many people there are in the caravan, and is your harvest today enough for all of you? Do you think about how much food you plan to cook?"

"Ah! Yes! Jijia, there are so many people. It seems that our guinea pigs are not enough!" Kuz was dumbfounded. A math problem was really difficult for the little orc who was only 12 years old.

During these days of studying herbal medicine with the old Kuru, I have already figured out how many people there are in the caravan. In fact, such a large caravan is actually three independent teams, and the least number is naturally 2 teams. The adventure group, these two adventure groups only have 27 people, and they always walk in front of the caravan, and only return to the main force when they are replenished.

The Thunder Rhino Team led by Butler Leipas is considered a real caravan. There are 203 members in total, and there are also 70 huge Thunder Rhinos.

The caravan was closely followed by 13 magic-patterned iron carriages. The Grimm Empire Dance Troupe was just traveling with our caravan, and the number of dance troupe was far more than ours, but they had their own cooks and their food was better than ours Much better. I once saw a young lady in white sitting on the side of the carriage, swinging her two slender white legs, holding a piece of white bread in her hand to tease the calf accompanying the carriage. The laughter spread far and wide.

I stood up and said: "There are more than 200 people in our team. Maybe 200 black breads are needed for dinner. I don't need to worry about it with Kuz, as long as we can make stew enough for 200 people, our today's The harvest is only 27 guinea pigs, which is not enough. Yesterday, Kurz also set up seven pheasants, which were still hidden in our tent. We also took out more than 50 pheasants. In addition, I want to add some vermicelli to the stew and steak..."

"Vermic noodles...? That is the hard hemp rope you made from sweet potatoes a few days ago?" Kurz obviously didn't agree with the vermicelli I made, because he hated those sweet potatoes, because sweet potato is a plant even in the orcs. In the tribe, only the lowest slaves eat it.

Obviously Kurtz was very worried that I would let him eat those vermicelli made from sweet potatoes, so he quickly said: "Maybe we can add some tree rice to taste better, and I can also ask Master Leipas for a bag of tree rice. Or a lot of living roots have grown in the wild, and it’s also delicious to cook and eat in a pot.”

In order to eat a meal of fake pork stewed vermicelli, I quickly put my arms around Kuz and said in a low voice, "Brother Shou, do you believe me?"

Due to my short stature, I could only hug Kuz, who was a head taller than me, with his chest in his chest and belly in his arms.Kuz blinked in embarrassment, and said to me: "When the meat is filled, you must give me more meat."

"Don't worry, you'll be open to eat when the time comes, that's enough!" I patted my small chest and promised.

On the easternmost side of the camp, next to the lake, there is a row of large stoves made of large stones. There are ten large iron pots on top of them. Each large iron pot is two meters in diameter. The six pots belong to the dance troupe. , the four pots belong to the caravan.

The cooks in the dance troupe have to stand on the edge of the stove with a shovel like a shovel to stir fry.

In contrast, the cooks in the caravan are much more relaxed. They eat black bread every day. They only need to boil water in the pot, pour some dried vegetables and salt into it, and sometimes add some dried meat. Everyone eats this kind of food. It's called dried vegetable soup.

At that time, I felt that this thing was more like a traditional Chinese medicine decoction with salt, which was very difficult to drink. Unless I was very hungry, I would rather eat black bread and drink plain water.

Kuz was never a picky eater, even with that kind of vegetable soup, he could drink a large bowl with relish. Later, old Kuru saw that I couldn't eat dry vegetable soup, so he took Kuz to go hunting occasionally and got some fresh meat for me.

Butler Leipas didn't say anything else when he heard my request and Kurz's. He took us to the stove and took a spatula that was taller than me, and asked me: "Jijia, you said you want to Make a meal for everyone, then if you can hold this spatula and promise not to fall into the pot, then I agree to your request."

Looking at the huge spatula up close, I realized that the wooden handle soaked in grease and becoming shiny was almost as thick as my arm. I couldn't pick up this heavy spatula either.

Apart from the cooks of the dance troupe and the cooks of the caravan, there were many idle people gathered around the stove.The caravan set up camp early in order to take a full rest in a place with water by the lake and prepare for entering the Pai Plateau.It was afternoon, and people in the caravan were basking in the sun outside their tents in the warm early spring in twos and threes, taking advantage of the rare good weather.Seeing people gathering by the lake, some people came over.

"Haha, it turned out to be Jijia boy, be careful not to hurt your toes with the spatula."

"Hey, let me tell you whose family that child belongs to. Is this little boy still breastfeeding? How could Master Lei let him carry such a heavy spatula?"

People in the crowd talked a lot, seeing that I didn't move the spatula in the end, they laughed together.However, in private, some insiders began to explain that the pharmacist of the caravan, Old Kuru, brought two children and wanted to give everyone a good meal.Then the crowd started to discuss what to eat tonight?

I was a little embarrassed, I never thought that the spatula could be so big and very heavy, I think it should be more than 30 kilograms, even if I was in my prime of life in my previous life, it was not easy to pick up such a big spatula to stir fry.

"Maybe I can..."

I was hesitant to ask someone for help. At this time, Kurz stretched out a hand to hold the wooden handle, and wanted to lift the spatula like a fly swatter, and asked me naively: "Jijia, this shovel is very heavy. ?"

"Ah! Aziz, you are so energetic." I was a little dumbfounded and dumbfounded.

For a long time, Kurtz has not shown his strength different from ordinary people. Sometimes I will be a little childish, fighting with Kurtz on the back of a rhino, and I will press on him to make him beg for mercy. Kurz will laugh every time throw in the towel very loudly.

At that time, I didn't feel much. I felt that even if his strength was greater than mine, it would not be much greater. At most, he could run very well, have great endurance, climb trees, and jump higher than me.

Even if we come back from hunting guinea pigs today, I still feel that it was the efforts of the two of us to bring them back, but now that I think about it, I brought my thinking back to the original mode, thinking very strongly about myself, I I don't think I can handle even a fraction of the number of guinea pigs.

It seems that Kurtz must have borne most of the weight at the time, and I was so careless as I walked in front that I didn't notice it.

I hurriedly said to the housekeeper Leipas: "Father Leipaz, can we start working now? Maybe I can do some other work, washing meat and carrying water, etc. Kurz is a good cook. "

Leipas looked at Kuz and me with a smile in his slender eyes, then turned his head to a chubby cook, Anlu, who was covered in oil stains, and ordered: "Today's dinner stew will be handed over to these two little guys. , I have a request, fat man, listen up, I need you to keep them safe. If anything happens to any of them, then you will receive my wrath. And I promise you that for the rest of the trip, you will not any healing. Do you understand?"

The fat guy, An Lu, had wrinkled flesh on his big round face. He wiped the oil and sweat off his face with a handkerchief whose color could not be seen clearly. , said to the butler Leipas with a bitter face: "Master butler, please rest assured, I will definitely take good care of these two young men."

Seeing that Kurtz wanted to talk all the time, I grabbed Kurtz's sleeve tightly.After Steward Leipas left, the crowd also dispersed, leaving only me and Kurtz holding a shovel, and I said to Kurtz: "All ideas are up to me, but I'm weak, so you have to come out." Work harder, after all, we are cooking dinner for more than 200 people, even if there is only one dish, I can’t do it.”

Hearing what I said, Kuz's nervous face relaxed, and he let out a long breath and said, "I don't know how to stew meat, but I have strength. As long as it is a labor-intensive job, Jijia, you can say it."

(End of this chapter)